Choking
by sorenalice
Summary: The portal shut down, so did his lungs, so did their love.


**Choking**

_Ok, I know I should be working on my Convalesce au, but I needed to get this out because if I kept it in anymore, it would hurt, so, here you go. Slight gore warning and angst, obviously. Also, I don't actually have breathing problems, so I apologize if it's a bit incorrect, but I'm just going to take free rein with this because, honestly, I can do what I want. Hope you enjoy this one, it's been fun to write._

**IMPORTANT UPDATE AS OF 12/6: This fic is also in german, and can be found at: / www . fanfiktion . de/s/52a228c100022ba639d5b03a/1/Choking-Ersticken It was translated by this gorgeous human being: www. fanfiktion . de / u / Rakshatter (Remove all spaces from urls) Anyway, if you can read german, or are learning to read german, this fic can be read ****_in_**** german. Thank you very much!**

They were on their way to go fishing. Just those two. That's what his Mother said. They were supposed to be having a father/son day where they could just hang out together and fish, eating horrible food and talking about things- school, life, work, girls, anything.

But then a ghost decided that they wanted to play catch.

With the road.

They'd just gotten their food from the local farmer's market and were headed out to a creek in the woods outside of town. They were going to catch enough fish to make their whole family dinner.

Instead, they were crushed by flying chunks of asphalt the size of semi trucks.

Phantom hadn't gotten away without a scratch either. A piece of skin that stretched from the side of his neck to the small of his back was completely torn off and thrown to the ground, where it used to be, christmas bubbled up and spotted the ground beneath him. His scream was heartbreaking. The Fentons collected it for science after the fight. Phantom had managed to get the ghost into his thermos before anything else happened. He flew, faltering and staggering back into the center of town until he completely disappeared from view.

A memorial was dedicated to the deceased father and son- Matthew and Peter MaHaffy, they were 34 and 7 years old, leaving behind a beautiful wife, Helen, and a daughter-on-the-way, who was going to be named Helen, but will now be named Mattie, in honor of her father, her middle name will be Alex- Peter's middle name. The town grieved. Balloons and ribbons colored grassy green- Peter's favorite color- were attached to anything and everything, in their memory.

The Fentons hadn't been seen since the Attack, although Phantom had, and he was hurting. A massive scar ran down the back of his neck and disappeared in his jumpsuit. He was weak, but he was still protecting the people. A box hit him in the back in a fight with the Box Ghost, and he was nearly unconscious with the pain. His voice was ragged and scratchy from screaming and his eyes were red with tears, shed and unshed.

The Fentons, however had fallen off of the radar. According to Danny and Jazz, they hadn't seen them since the Attack either. The only sign that they were even still alive was the constant, muffled talking and occasional clang coming from behind the locked door of the lab.

-**Danny**-_ONE WEEK POST- ATTACK_-

They shut down the ghost portal. I can't believe it.

They finally grew some logic and realized that maybe having a ghost portal in a basement of a home with two kids in a town full of innocent people was a bad idea. Well, yeah, they wanted to be there for us, work, and give us a good education at the same time, but really, an interdimensional portal built into the basement wall is just a little too… I don't know, but it's too something. Not to mention that the interdimensional portal basically half-killed their youngest child, aka, ME. I don't blame them for it, but couldn't they at least make everything up to code down there? I'm sure ripping up the foundation of a house full of children _might_ be a tiny bit dangerous.

Either way, they turned it off, and to be honest, I'm glad. I don't have to fight ghosts anymore. I don't have to drag myself to a Jazz or Tucker or Sam so I can get patched up. I don't have to lie to everyone about where I was and what I was doing. I won't have that horrible guilty feeling eat away at me from my gut up every time the news plays a damage report on property and people. I can finally be a normal kid. That's all I've really wanted, just to experience normal. I've never been normal. Whenever I went home there was always some weird ectoplasmic mess to clean up off of something, or some new weapon waiting to be tested. Sam says that it's wrong to want to be normal, but that's just because she's had a chance to try normal, and she got sick of it. I've never had that.

So, yeah. I'm glad they turned off the portal. It was their life's work and I know they feel guilty about it, and I feel guilty about letting those two people die, but at least it won't happen any more.

My back is already healed-thank goodness and karma and whatever else for ghost healing- but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have this scar for the rest of my life. It's huge. It goes from the left side of my neck, stretches across my back, and tapers off just above my belt line. I've been using Jazz's concealer to cover up the scar on my neck, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep it up. Concealer is expensive. And Jazz gets the cheap kind from the Pharmacy. Not to mention, I'm fairly certain it isn't actually waterproof, so if I sweat too much or get wet at all, it'll be all exposed. Like a nerve. Anyway, it's healed but it's still sensitive. Like a bad sunburn- y'know, when your skin peels off and someone wants to peel it off and aloe feels like an ice cube being smeared on your back. Or when you bump a scab against a table. It's not as bad as it was, but it isn't very good either.

But hey, with the portal closed I'll probably get more allowance since I can actually _do _my chores now, and I can actually go out and get some scar cream, now that I've got time. I can even go and hang out with Sam and Tucker. I haven't been able to do that completely uninterrupted since the accident. I'm really looking forward to this, I mean, I'll be able to get better grades, and better grades mean good chances I'll get into the space program. I can be an astronaut. Without the ghost attacks, I can follow my dreams and do what I've always wanted to do!

This is gonna be great.

-**Maddie**- _ONE MONTH POST-PORTAL-_

I'm taking my son in to see his doctor, Dr. Bartha.

Danny's been breathing heavily lately. At first it just started as feeling winded easily and needing to rest sooner rather than later. But now it's evolved. He's panting whenever he walks. He can't seem to catch his breath. It's bad. He almost fainted when he walked up the stairs to his room yesterday.

The doctor held a stethoscope up to listen to his breathing again and 'd been doing that for a few minutes. He even got a new stethoscope. He'd taken blood and given it to the lab to be tested for anything, but that won't be in for a while.

"Well, Danny, I can't hear anything wrong. I'm going to go check with another doctor and we'll get you an inhaler. Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment." and with that, the doctor walked out of the room.

I looked back at Danny. His eyes were downcast and he looked… broken. His bright shining eyes were dull and flat. He was hunched over and staring at his feet, dangling off of the edge of the table. The paper rustled underneath him and he took deep, slow breaths. I shuffled over to him and rubbed his back. He only smiled weakly and glanced up at me, before he looked back down at his shoes.

Some time later, the doctor came back into the room carrying a large plastic bag full of inhalers. Danny stared at him and the bag with wide eyes. The doctor smiled sympathetically and set the bag down on the desk.

"You're going to need these if you're having as much trouble as you are. Just press the top here and breathe in. Use them whenever you feel really out of breath. Come back if anything happens. But, other than that, you're good to go. I'll be seeing you. Hopefully not until your physical, though."

Danny gave the man a wry smile and walked out the door. I nodded at the doctor in thanks and followed after Danny.

I really hope this is only temporary.

-**Danny**-_FOUR MONTHS POST-PORTAL-_

My lungs are burning. I mean actually bruning. Like, I feel like they're trying to implode and curl in on themselves and no matter how hard I try, I can't get a breath in. I can't- I just- I- What? My mom stood over me, talking quickly, nearly crying, but I couldn't hear her. The edges of my vision blackened and blurred.

Then, all of a sudden, a miracle. The burning stopped. And the world went black.

-X-

Something is on my face.

I don't like it.

There's an annoying beeping noise and it's too hot and I think I'm laying on a box. I slowly crack one eye open. Bright, white light assaults my eye and I snap it back shut and sigh, or sigh as much as I can these days. I snap both eyes open and they burn, but my eyes quickly adjust to the obnoxious light.

I'm in a hospital room. How did I even get here? The last thing I remember is...I think just going home. So, what happened? And what on earth is on my face?

I reach a shaking hand up to touch whatever it is and pull it off, but a deep voice stops me.

"I wouldn't do that, Danny." I jump and look in the direction the voice came from. My eyes widen when I see Dr. Bartha standing there, his face severe, but a small smile playing on his lips. I must've looked confused so he continued. "You had a severe pulmonary attack, Danny. Your heart stopped at one point- only for a minute- You've only been out for two days. But I- uh, I have to ask you something." I nodded at him, my eyebrows furrowed.

"How, exactly did you become half ghost?"

Oh.

Oh no.

This is not good.

My eyes widened and I heard the ECG machine beep faster and faster. My already harsh breathing picked up and my hands clenched.

"Calm down, Danny, you're fine, I just- I'm your doctor, Danny. It would be nice to know if my favorite patient was half ghost before I did something stupid. I promise, I'm not going to turn you in to any hunters or anything. I did have a responsibility to tell your parents, though. But they actually helped you. They're the reason you're awake right now."

I stared at him, shocked.

My parents knew? And they accepted me? They helped me? I stifled a smile and looked around the room.

"So what's wrong with me?" The doctor sighed and sat down in the chair next to the bed. He took a deep breath and started explaining.

"Ghosts live off of the ambient ectoplasm in the ghost zone. It's how they get spectral energy to do things. They absorb it through their skin. But, when your ghost half was formed, it was out in the human world, I'm assuming, where we don't naturally have _any_ ambient ectoplasm. to compensate, your ghost half adapted to breathing in the ectoplasm from the air that the portal leaked out. Dragging it in through an already existent bodily function. Your halves were still a little disjointed at the time, so you wouldn'tve had problems breathing then, but as time goes on, your halves get more closely interwound. When you started out, you could live without either half, now you have to live with both, noth just either. Because your parents shut down the portal in their basement, the ambient ectoplasm's been disappearing. Essentially, your ghost half is trying to get all the food it can from the air- which is becoming less and less- but that takes air away from your lungs and makes it difficult to breathe properly. But, with your parents knowing, they used an invention of theirs. Ecto dejecto I believe it was. It woke you right up. We gave it to you not ten minutes ago. Now, unfortunately, ghosts don't like change and are slow to adapt. While your ghost half adapts to the intravenous ecto dejecto injections, you're going to have symptoms of emphysema. You're going to cough, and your breathing will be noisy, but you _will_ be able to breathe. You need one 100mL injection a day, and you'll be all set."

He smiled at me kindly and gave me another sack of inhalers.

"Just in case."

I smiled back at him and he excused himself quickly and left the door to my room open.

"DANNY!"

I was mobbed by hugs and kisses. My parents and Jazz crowded around my bedside, asking me if I was alright, how did I become half ghost, all those sorts of questions that people ask when a loved one has a mysterious lung attack caused by an ectoplasm deficiency in the air and ends up unconscious for two days.

told them everything. About Danny Phantom, why I do what I do, Vlad, the ghosts, everything.

They accepted me. They actually accepted me for what I am.

I don't think I've ever been happier.

-**Danny**-_ONE WEEK POST- AWAKENING-_

I hate breathing.

It's so loud and annoying.

It's hard too.

As if Dash didn't have enough things to make fun of me over, I'm now called Wheezy.

This is just great. Just frickin' peachy.

I have a permanent bruise on my arm because of the daily injections.

It feels like I'm being cheated, but I'm not. It's like being fed through an IV. You get all the stuff you need, but there's nothing there.

According to Dr. Bertha it could take years for my ghost half to adjust to the IV. Years with wheezing for every breath.

I'm looking forward to it.

-**Danny**-_TWO MONTHS POST-AWAKENING-_

Mom called me down to the lab a few minutes ago. Maybe they had an alternative thing to the injections- like pills. Pills would be nice.

I trudged down the stairs into the lab, my breath croaking in my throat, but not as bad as it had been, maybe I'm finally adapting. When I got to the bottom of the steps, Mom and Dad were waiting for me by the portal.

The glowing, swirling very much _turned on_ interdimensional portal to the Ghost Zone.

My forehead crinkled in confusion and I looked at my parents. Their eyes were red and puffy. Dried tear streaks shone on their cheeks. Mom let out a soft sob and grabbed my hand, dragging me towards the portal. The closer I got the easier I could breathe. I took a deep, smooth, silent breath- the first one in months- and smiled softly. My dad opened his mouth to speak, but cut himself off before he could say anything. Mom looked up at him and nodded. She turned back to me and sighed.

"Danny, sweetie, we love you so muc-" she sobbed and ran up to me, wrapping her arms around me and crying into my shoulder. Dad followed her lead and circled both of us in a huge bear hug, silent tears dripping off of his face.

"Whats-?" I started before Dad cut me off.

"I love you, Danny. Never forget that, son. I love you."

I'd never seen my parents cry before. What's happening? I'm getting a little freaked out right now. Mom walked over to a table and pulled a black backpack off and threw it at me. I only barely caught it and Mom broke down into more sobs.

"Mom, what's-?" She cut me off.

"I'm so sorry, Danny, I'm so, so sorry." her voice was shaking and cracking at every opportunity.

She and Dad grabbed each other's hands and looked each other in the eye before they set their shoulders straight and ran towards me.

My eyes widened as I was pushed through the ghost portal.

I barely held onto the edge of the portal with one hand, the other grasping the backpack I'd been given.

"Wha- Help!" I cried out, but my parents stared at me sadly. Mom bent down and put her hand on mine.

"Ghosts belong in the Ghost Zone, Danny. You need to live with your kind now. Goodbye, sweetie, I love you!"

They didn't actually accept me.

They did, but they didn't.

They thought I was just a ghost.

Just a ghost too stupid to go back to the Ghost Zone on it's own.

Tears ran down my face and I looked both of them in the eye.

They are no longer my parents.

They lost the right to call them that when they abandoned me in the Ghost Zone.

I wonder if Jazz, Sam and Tucker are in on it too. It wouldn't really surprise me, at this point. I mean, if the people who are supposed to love you no matter what can't even accept you, what about friends.

Maybe they're right.

What's the point of living in the Human World, anyway.

So what if there's the sun and the sky and the moon and the stars? So what if there's clear water and green grass and people?

I'm not wanted there.

I know that much.

So I let go.

Into the dark, lightless abyss of the Ghost Zone.

The last time I see them, they're choking on their own tears.


End file.
